“Dying for the Sake of Allah Is Our Biggest Wish”
As I write this (1:17 pm eastern US) Haaretz is reporting in the crawl on its website that the IDF offensive into southern Lebanon has begun. Only last night I saw video of Israelis forces withdrawing from Lebanon; less than twenty-four hours later they are moving back in.
The reason is simple: they have to move back in and do the best that they can to destroy Hezbollah because no one else willing to do it. As I wrote in an earlier post Monday, the Franco-American Security Council draft produced last weekend did little more than commit the UN to stand by its earlier pronouncements about the need to establish a “monopoly” of Lebanese state power in the south, which implied, in effect, the disarming of Hezbollah. The failure of the UN Security Council to come up with a draft that the body could support, whether it meets the demands of the Arabs or the Israelis, is yet another sign of the fecklessness of the United Nations. The organization claims to be a representative body of states, but is unwilling to support the states of Israel and Lebanon in the face of a non-state actor working against the interest of both.
My scan of the press suggests that the UN is still hard at work, but to no immedaite avail. They’ll have to wait a few more days to see how well, or poorly, the Israelis do with their new offensive. If they do well, the Lebanese government might change its position and accept a stronger UN resolution. If the IDF stumbles, it may be the Israelis who look for a ceasefire.
Israel is in a rather unique position. Polls indicate that the government has overwhelming support for what it is doing in Lebanon. Over 90 percent of Israelis support operations against Hezbollah. Internationally, while there has been a steady and “as-usual” outcry against Israeli actions, after a month of conflict no Arab state has taken or threatened any action in response. The United States remains supportive. And, finally, the abortive terrorist attack against trans-Atlantic air routes, while it has nothing to do with Hezbollah, will nevertheless stiffen some western attitudes because it will remind them of 9/11. I suspect that the release of Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” will do the same. I saw the film Wednesday and it is a powerful reminder of the threat posed by terrorists, and unlike many of Stone’s other movies, apolitical and devoid of conspiracy theories. (I never thought I’d see the day when I’d promote an Oliver Stone film, but….)
The question now becomes: can the Israelis make the best of the window of opportunity they possess to clear out southern Lebanon? The faster they move and the greater damage they inflict on Hezbollah, the more likely they are to secure a favorable resolution from the UN. Actually, if I were running Israel, I wouldn’t provide anyone with an assurance that my forces would stop at the Litani, even if that was my plan. Let Hezbollah wonder.
No doubt there will be those who will argue that if the Israelis strike hard they’ll just create more enemies and more Hezbollah followers. Well, the fact is that they will. If the Israeli’s falter, look weak, and withdraw from Lebanon with Hezbollah claiming a victory, that, too, will fuel anti-Israeli sentiments and strengthen Hezbollah.
We in the West need to get “real.” We have to understand that the issue no longer concerns playing around with the pre-1967 borders. Hezbollah, Hamas, assorted other jihadist groups, and a majority of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza want to see Israel wiped off the map. These are groups that interpret negotiation and Israeli withdrawal as signs of weakness.
So, you ask, what is the solution? The unfortunate answer is that there is no solution. The “Palestinian Problem” has become a mere element of the larger “Global War on Terror.” The Palestinians finalized that process themselves when they elected a Hamas parliament. Watch this MEMRI video clip (#1089) as the members of the Palestinian Parliament chant: “Allah be praised, Allah is our goal, the Koran is our constitution, Mohammed is our prophet, jihad is our path, and dying for the sake of Allah is our biggest wish.”
And it’s only going to get worse.
The reason is simple: they have to move back in and do the best that they can to destroy Hezbollah because no one else willing to do it. As I wrote in an earlier post Monday, the Franco-American Security Council draft produced last weekend did little more than commit the UN to stand by its earlier pronouncements about the need to establish a “monopoly” of Lebanese state power in the south, which implied, in effect, the disarming of Hezbollah. The failure of the UN Security Council to come up with a draft that the body could support, whether it meets the demands of the Arabs or the Israelis, is yet another sign of the fecklessness of the United Nations. The organization claims to be a representative body of states, but is unwilling to support the states of Israel and Lebanon in the face of a non-state actor working against the interest of both.
My scan of the press suggests that the UN is still hard at work, but to no immedaite avail. They’ll have to wait a few more days to see how well, or poorly, the Israelis do with their new offensive. If they do well, the Lebanese government might change its position and accept a stronger UN resolution. If the IDF stumbles, it may be the Israelis who look for a ceasefire.
Israel is in a rather unique position. Polls indicate that the government has overwhelming support for what it is doing in Lebanon. Over 90 percent of Israelis support operations against Hezbollah. Internationally, while there has been a steady and “as-usual” outcry against Israeli actions, after a month of conflict no Arab state has taken or threatened any action in response. The United States remains supportive. And, finally, the abortive terrorist attack against trans-Atlantic air routes, while it has nothing to do with Hezbollah, will nevertheless stiffen some western attitudes because it will remind them of 9/11. I suspect that the release of Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” will do the same. I saw the film Wednesday and it is a powerful reminder of the threat posed by terrorists, and unlike many of Stone’s other movies, apolitical and devoid of conspiracy theories. (I never thought I’d see the day when I’d promote an Oliver Stone film, but….)
The question now becomes: can the Israelis make the best of the window of opportunity they possess to clear out southern Lebanon? The faster they move and the greater damage they inflict on Hezbollah, the more likely they are to secure a favorable resolution from the UN. Actually, if I were running Israel, I wouldn’t provide anyone with an assurance that my forces would stop at the Litani, even if that was my plan. Let Hezbollah wonder.
No doubt there will be those who will argue that if the Israelis strike hard they’ll just create more enemies and more Hezbollah followers. Well, the fact is that they will. If the Israeli’s falter, look weak, and withdraw from Lebanon with Hezbollah claiming a victory, that, too, will fuel anti-Israeli sentiments and strengthen Hezbollah.
We in the West need to get “real.” We have to understand that the issue no longer concerns playing around with the pre-1967 borders. Hezbollah, Hamas, assorted other jihadist groups, and a majority of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza want to see Israel wiped off the map. These are groups that interpret negotiation and Israeli withdrawal as signs of weakness.
So, you ask, what is the solution? The unfortunate answer is that there is no solution. The “Palestinian Problem” has become a mere element of the larger “Global War on Terror.” The Palestinians finalized that process themselves when they elected a Hamas parliament. Watch this MEMRI video clip (#1089) as the members of the Palestinian Parliament chant: “Allah be praised, Allah is our goal, the Koran is our constitution, Mohammed is our prophet, jihad is our path, and dying for the sake of Allah is our biggest wish.”
And it’s only going to get worse.
